Announcements

Fishing Minnesota has added a new menu item (see above) called Fishing Report Clubs. It's a way to keep the really good fishing reports coming and being shared only with those who also provide detailed fishing reports.
We will only approve new members who request to join if they have already posted a recent fishing report in the area forum, associated with the Fishing Report Club area you want to join.
Initially we are going to limit the number of regular memberships, in the Fishing Report Clubs, to the top 20 members in each Club, to those with the best frequency and quality fishing reports provided in the club and less so in the regular fishing report forum open to all members. The higher quality fishing report reserved for the club of course.
If you want see detailed fishing reports/tips around your area and will share your detailed fishing report as soon as you join, then Join Now!
Some of the clubs are starting to fill fast. Use the Fishing Reports Club link in the Menu above (after you've posted a fishing report in the regular area forum) and request to Join.

RECEIVE THE GIFTS MEMBERS SHARE WITH YOU HERE...THEN...CREATE SOMETHING TO ENCHANT OTHERS THAT YOU WANT TO SHARE

You know what we all love...

When you enchant people, you fill them with delight and yourself in return. Have Fun!!!

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

jbell1981 8

jbell1981 8

I was out Monday evening, didn't see anything close but seen lots in the distance so when I left I went to see where the all were going. After following them for a while they were all landing on a lake. Must have been a couple hundred of them there and I have never seen a goose on this lake before Monday night.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

HunterLee 0

HunterLee 0

evening hunts can be as good as morning, but they have to be using that field. i personally dont think that they fly as much in the evening, as the do morning. I personally dont hunt a field til ive seen geese in it. that way i know that i should get some action. For a water hunt i go out after they fly off and sit til 1 or 2 depending on the action.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

HunterLee 0

HunterLee 0

evening hunts can be as good as morning, but they have to be using that field. i personally dont think that they fly as much in the evening, as the do morning. I personally dont hunt a field til ive seen geese in it. that way i know that i should get some action. For a water hunt i go out after they fly off and sit til 1 or 2 depending on the action. they usually dont get back to the water at night til its past legal shooting time.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

shae1986 0

shae1986 0

I personally dont hunt much in the evening hours for geese, mainly bc the fact that they dont' fly as much as during hte day. Now dont get me wrong, i have had decent hunts in the evening but usually nothing like during the day. Most of my nights are spent looking for fields for morning hunts or busy chasing deer around. Some people might get mad and tell me im wrong but for years now my evening hunting has been poor, IN THE EARLY SEASON. Now when the geese from canada start coming i will hunt both evening and morning if i have a field htey are flying to.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

huntnfish 7

huntnfish 7

I would have to agree with shae on this. I have a couple of OK hunts in the evenings, but for the most part it has never been worth the effort during the early season. I normally hunt the mornings, go home and take a nap and then head out in the afternoon and find some more birds for the next morning. I would never set up on pond that the geese are using to roost in. All that does it run them out of the area. It is much easier and fun for me to find out where they are going and hit them in the fields. When the geese are headed south, if you have a good field you can have birds coming in all day long.

On a different topic, did anyone else see some of the local birds v'd up and headed south? I saw a few flocks that were doing that a couple hours after light on Saturday and the only thing our group could figure was that they were busted off the roost. Anyone else see this or have any ideas as to why they were leaving?

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

tearin' lips 0

tearin' lips 0

I agree. Evening hunts are not as producitve as morning hunts, the geese aren't as worried about filling their stomachs and they can see better than they can right away in the morning. Don't get me wrong I have had some great evening shoots, but I had to be located in the particular field in which they were going to feed in.

Good Luck Hunting!

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Laker_taker 0

Laker_taker 0

Huntnfish, i also saw a couple flocks that were really high and v'd and i am guessing they were headed south probly because they were being shot at every spot they would try to land and they said the heck with this and headed for safer areas. but that is my theory, the weather is too nice for them to want to head south yet and canadian season doesnt open for a few days so.... and i am in fargo now for school and i have my gun and full body dekes here with me if u want to go hunting sometime let me know 218-929-8010. thanks steffan

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

honker23 0

honker23 0

I think fields are the way to go at night, they feed, just not as long. In my experience the water is best from 9-3:30, usually after they eat in the morning and before they eat at night. The geese will hit the water at night, just usually after the season closes.

I've never heard of the geese hiding in the bean fields.

I also think the geese will move in the heat. It seems that the light affects them more. A dark cloudy morning usually keeps them on the water a little longer and a dark cloudy night seems to get them feeding a little quicker, just my observations.

I wouldn't get too worried that the geese are flying high and south, they are probably just heading to water or a field, and have been shot at enough to fly a little higher. It's way too early for them to think about migration.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

shae1986 0

shae1986 0

Those geese that you saw flying high hitman were probably the once that we saw come off the refuge. After those geese get shot off the roost they leave, and my group knows that. Even though i have some decent water i could have a good shoot off i know that if i hunt the fields i will probably get 3 decent hunts off and still be able to put a forth hunt together on the water if i really believe thats what needs to be done. Now is there anything wrong with hunting water, no, none, not at all. I just know the geese in my area leave when they even get jumped off the roost.

Now for the evening hunts with this cold them i will just get more excited for bowhunting and still probably scout my birds at night. It will be around Mid October before i am choosing between bow hunting and goose hunting in the evening hours.

Made it out this weekend again with a bunch of friends on Saturday morning. Ice conditions at shore were great condition, ice driving around was just fine especially since I was only in 2wd. Fished a deep hole from 6:30 till 2 pm around Dent. Fish were active and everyone was able to land a few fish. Fish ranged from 12-16" with average being in that 14-15" range. Tons of people out there. Coming off the ice the access was no longer in great condition but was still very easy to get off the water.
Fished over by perham in the afternoon for crappies hit a deep hole that usually holds good populations. Graphed a ton but only 3-6" crappies. Fished till graphs died, guess LX7's with a 9 amp hour rating wont run 12+ hours lol. Access on that lake was getting very sketchy to say the least. Everyone kept driving on good ice so the trails coming off the lake were sporadic at best. Lots of snow on the lake and lots of slush and flooded spots on the lake. We were throwing water with 4wd in the pickup locked in.
Fished Sunday morning again, buddy I took is worse than most 5 year olds so it was an interesting morning. Got one around 7:15 right away. Was trying to set his rod up and graph and hooked one in the process he gave it too much slack and lost it. 5 minutes later he's fighting one and I can hear drag flying off so I thought I went too light of gear for him, he landed an 18.5" tuilibee! Biggest one of the weekend and ended up being his only fish. We fished the rest of the morning and ended up with about a dozen of them. Range was from 5" to 18.5" average being about 14" again. Access coming off was same condition but you drive through a "Beach" on shore and the beach is getting really dug out and soft.
Unless we get tons of cold weather soon I might be done for driving on any access that gets hit by sunlight. Sun has tons of power and I got a nasty sunburn on Saturday while hole hoping!

Made it out this weekend again with a bunch of friends on Saturday morning. Ice conditions at shore were great condition, ice driving around was just fine especially since I was only in 2wd. Fished a deep hole from 6:30 till 2 pm around Dent. Fish were active and everyone was able to land a few fish. Fish ranged from 12-16" with average being in that 14-15" range. Tons of people out there. Coming off the ice the access was no longer in great condition but was still very easy to get off the water.
Fished over by perham in the afternoon for crappies hit a deep hole that usually holds good populations. Graphed a ton but only 3-6" crappies. Fished till graphs died, guess LX7's with a 9 amp hour rating wont run 12+ hours lol. Access on that lake was getting very sketchy to say the least. Everyone kept driving on good ice so the trails coming off the lake were sporadic at best. Lots of snow on the lake and lots of slush and flooded spots on the lake. We were throwing water with 4wd in the pickup locked in.
Fished Sunday morning again, buddy I took is worse than most 5 year olds so it was an interesting morning. Got one around 7:15 right away. Was trying to set his rod up and graph and hooked one in the process he gave it too much slack and lost it. 5 minutes later he's fighting one and I can hear drag flying off so I thought I went too light of gear for him, he landed an 18.5" tuilibee! Biggest one of the weekend and ended up being his only fish. We fished the rest of the morning and ended up with about a dozen of them. Range was from 5" to 18.5" average being about 14" again. Access coming off was same condition but you drive through a "Beach" on shore and the beach is getting really dug out and soft.
Unless we get tons of cold weather soon I might be done for driving on any access that gets hit by sunlight. Sun has tons of power and I got a nasty sunburn on Saturday while hole hoping!

Wow just figured it out 105 day and counting that I have gone on to the lake. There may of been a day or two that I did not go on the lake but I guess I do not remember when that was. Its been another fun grind if that can be such a thing.
My blogging has not been as much as I would like. After a couple days you can not remember all the little things that happen. Such as as all the fishermen's names that I meet along the way. How many fish were caught and released, who did what, why they drove there, what mother nature threw at us.
I would say that not as many fishermen drove into the pressure ridges or snow berms this year.
There were again more wheel houses this year then last year as they just keep pumping them things out. There were some lake politics that I do not get to talk about, about the same as every year. I hooked up with snowbear Josh as he has become a new friend, I tried to give him some pointers and helped him out where I could.
If I graded the fishing 1 to 10 I would give her a 8, we had 3 really slow weekends in our spots. It seems that they are always biting somewhere on this lake, its just getting to them places can some times be impossible.
If I graded Buddy Hillmens road/highway it gets a 10, but I biased on that as I help with that. Our crappie get together has gotten smaller which is fine as I get to spend more time with the guys and gals. My working vacation started the day after walleye closed. I'm defiantly burned out with cooking the 3 course meals in old Minnesota, all though the cooking space is about the same size as our kitchen just no running water.
I would say we have to be around 150 to 200 elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies since walleye closed. Which is pretty good considering we can not get to where we want to be this year. I've really had to stay on the move to get the houses on new spots to improve the chance of catching such a elusive fish, but I always wonder if I should of stayed where I was.
When Wayne came up this weekend he drove into the maze of trails I have made in the last 3 weeks and said "your right you really do ruin areas" man did we have a laugh about that. They say Laughter makes you younger and again I may of gained a year or two.
Having Jonny boy working with me was a treat, as any time you can spend quality time with your kids is a bonus in life. Auguring holes with all most 3 feet of ice has become quite the chore , he makes it look easy, as after 3 holes I'm spent, I'm not sure how I ever have been able to knock out 40 holes on a Thursday or Friday. I guess I have to chalk it up to age.
He is also a fishing machine compared to me. He had spent every night out there since walleye closed. As our good friend Ole has said in the past. "he is a trophy hunter" you can not catch them if your not out there. Every one of these elusive crappies in my book are trophies'
Yesterday I started moving the fleet home after saying good bye to the guys. I have 3 of the 6 houses staged close to shore. Were going to keep montana and California out there for a couple more days I think, It all depends on mother nature, and how cutting the trail to Hillmens road goes today with the red baron. The houses can be out there after the 19th as long as there occupied and Jonny boy has no problem staying out there a few more nights.
Now for the fishing report, Ryan and his son Ripply arrived Thursday and spent two nights in florida. They were rewarded with 3 elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies. I also had 5 in the cooler so we sent him home with 5 total enough to have a great meal. The hammer and I ate the other 3 out there last night.
Wayne made it up for old Minnesota, I managed to snag one Saturday eve so he also got to have fresh crappie dinner when he got home last night.
jeoff, Jeromy, Larry and Kevin were in north Dakota and montana. North dakota got 5 the first night and Saturday morning, montana got 2 I think, then Saturday night it was the opposite. They figured they caught at least 20 counting the fish caught hole hopping during the day. The crew of 4 only kept 8 or 9.
Jonny boy and I also moved California and Florida Friday , Jonny boy picked a good spot for California and has caught more then a few, yesterday Dick and his wife came for the evening and had 2 last I heard, Dick said both are going on the wall.
Marty and Tony came down from low Saturday and fished in florida they left before dark so no fish for them.
Sounds like Darrin is going to come up tomorrow for a day or 2. Jeoff said he may come back as he has a hard time putting the ice fishing gear away, kinda like me putting the golf clubs or the fish houses away. I took the hammer fishing last night for her birthday but no elusive crappie for her all though I think she may of lost one or two, as well as me.
Hillmens highway is still in good shape, with the lake completely snow covered at this time. we have not lost much if any ice other then the landing which is not that big of a deal as its so shallow .